Benchmarks end slightly in the red on penultimate day of F&O expiry

Extending their southward journey for sixth straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Wednesday’s trade with modest cut, amid a choppy trading session, as investors turned cautious on penultimate day of the expiry of March derivative contracts. Sentiments also weighed down after the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services suggested that Indian companies in infrastructure, metals & mining and oil & gas sectors have high debt levels. Moreover, investors failed to get any sense of relief from report that Mauritius promising full cooperation with India to address outstanding issues relating to their bilateral tax treaty.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in the red in early deals, as investors awaited a survey on German business climate for insight on the outlook for Europe's biggest economy. However, Asian stocks ended steady on Wednesday, caught between conflicting signals from lower Wall Street and higher euro zone shares, while the dollar held to modest gains after a rise in US consumer inflation.

Back home, depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. Rupee was trading at 62.39 per dollar at the time of equity markets closing compared with its previous close of 62.26 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to appreciation of the US currency overseas. Sentiments also weighed down on report that Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 631.67 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data. Meanwhile, metal & mining stocks continued to edge lower after data released on March 24, 2015 showed Chinese manufacturing activity dropped to an 11-month low in March 2015.

On the flip side, pharma stocks continued to surge on a slew of positive news with mergers and acquisitions of new product patents. Moreover, the telecom stocks remained mostly in jubilant mood, as the spectrum auction may come to an end today. The government’s kitty from the telecom spectrum auction rose to Rs 1.09 lakh crore with the provisional allocation of 89 per cent radiowaves made at the end of the 18th day. Additionally, public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) viz. BPCL and IOC edged higher after decline in the global crude oil prices.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty declined by over ten points but managed to hold the psychological 8,500 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex dropped by around fifty points to finish below its psychological 28,150 mark. Broader markets too struggled to get any traction and ended the session with a cut of around half a percent. The market breadth remained in favor of decliners, as there were 955 shares on the gaining side against 1,881 shares on the losing side while 135 shares remain unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex dropped by 49.89 points or 0.18% to 28111.83, while the CNX Nifty declined by 12.15 points or 0.14% to 8,530.80.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 28249.60 and 28031.42, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.48%, while Small cap index was down by 0.67%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.56%, ICICI Bank up by 1.51%, Wipro up by 1.36%, Sun Pharma up by 1.29% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.21%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.51%, GAIL India down by 2.54%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.31%, Coal India down by 2.11% and SBI down by 1.87% were the top losers.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare  up by 0.48%, IT up by 0.33%, Auto up by 0.32%, TECK up by 0.29% and Consumer Durables up by 0.08% while, Capital Goods down by 1.65%, PSU down by 1.32%, Power down by 1.17%, Metal down by 0.97% and Oil & Gas down by 0.56% were the losing indices on BSE.

Meanwhile the government received commitments of Rs 109,000 crore from telecom operators at the end of 110th round of bidding on Tuesday, which was the 18th day of radio frequency spectrum e-auctions. This is higher compared to commitments worth Rs 105,000 crore received on the 17th day of the auction. With this, over 89% of spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders. The auction will continue as about some amount of spectrum is yet to be sold. Robust bidding was witnessed in 900 MHz and 800 MHz band, with majority of service areas being sold at a premium over reserve price. However, DoT has barred from publishing final results without Supreme Court's consent. A hearing in the apex court in this regard is scheduled for March 26.

In the 800 MHz, telecom players bid for Uttar Pradesh (West) circle, which was lying idle since the beginning of the auctions. The intensity was most in the Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and North East circles. In the 900 MHz, the intensity was seen most in Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, North East, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (both East and West). Meanwhile, in the 1800 MHz, the intensity was most for Kolkata circle. However, still no bidding was witnessed for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu circles for the 800 MHz.

The biggest ever auction of spectrum in the 800, 900, 1,800, and 2,100 MHz bands had started on March 4. In the current round of auction, the government is selling a total of 380.75 MHz of spectrum in the premium, 900 MHz band, 800 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands, and 5 MHz in the 2,100-MHz band across 17 of the 22 telecom areas of the circles in the country. The government had initially estimated to earn between Rs 80,000 crore and Rs 1 lakh crore from the sale of radio waves. However, this seems to be way above estimates, with the counting still continuing. From the last spectrum auction held in February 2014, the government had raked in Rs 62,162 crore. Notably, these commitments come over and above the Rs 200,000 crore that India Inc has already bid under the two phases of auctions for award of coal blocks. But the proceeds from this auction will go to the respective state governments over 30 years.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 8,573.75 and 8,516.55 respectively.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 3.89%, DLF up by 3.00%, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries up by 1.73%, Tata Motors up by 1.64% and ICICI Bank up by 1.43%. On the flip side, PNB down by 4.24%, NTPC down by 3.67%, Coal India down by 2.58%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.51% and GAIL (India) down by 2.44% were the top losers.

Most of European Markets were trading in the red; Germany's DAX was down by 0.31% and France's CAC was down by 0.52 % while, UK's FTSE 100 was up by 0.12%.

The Asian markets closed mostly in green on Wednesday, while the Chinese stocks closed lower as losses in the Banking, Electricity and Utilities sectors led shares lower.  The Asian Development Bank stated that Indonesia’s economic growth could speed up to 5.5% this year and 6% next year, should President Joko Widodo’s administration succeed in maintaining a healthy investment climate in the country. The economy grew 5% last year, a fourth consecutive year of deceleration. Last year, household consumption remained buoyant, but government spending and investment slowed, while exports fell. Japan’s corporate services price index (CSPI) fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.3%, from 3.5% in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from 3.4%. South Korean GDP rose to a seasonally adjusted 0.3%.